Modes of Research
used by the Atmospheric Physics Group.
|
To study electricity in thunderstorms we launch instrumented
balloons into storms.
|
We acquire electric field and thermodynamic data from the
two main balloon-borne instruments, the electric
field meter and the radiosonde, which are shown in the diagram above (left).
The electric field meters (above right) are constructed in the Department
of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Mississippi.
If you are in the neighborhood, stop by Lewis Hall room
124 for a demonstration.
From each sounding of electric
field we deduce a relatively simple, first-order estimate of the
charge
structure in the storm. This information, along with radar
analyses and balloon locations, tells us a lot about where
the charges are in the storm and a little about how they got there.
To date, we have collected nearly 200 soundings of electric
field in various types of thunderstorms. |
Charge Structure in the Convective Region
of a Thundercloud
The figure above is from "Electrical
structure in thunderstorm convective regions,
3. Synthesis"
(by Stolzenburg, Marshall, and Rust; published in the Journal of Geophysical
Research, Vol. D103, 1998, pp. 14097-14108).
It is based on our charge analyses of 49 soundings
through thunderstorms.
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Please address comments to Maribeth
Stolzenburg. (mstolzen@phy.olemiss.edu)
Last updated 12 October 1999.
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